Same story: Big East losing Notre Dame to ACC

The Big East has yet again lost a key member school to the ACC, which announced Monday that Notre Dame is joining its league in all sports except football, the sixth Big East school to make such a switch in the past eight years.

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Notre Dame will remain an independent in football but has agreed to play five games a year against ACC opponents. No timetable has been set for the move, though the Big East still has a 27-month window of notice required; Notre Dame will likely buy out an earlier exit, as Pitt and Syracuse have in recent months entering their final year in the Big East.

Notre Dame is one of the Big East's most successful all-around athletic programs, and the move comes as the conference is opening negotiations on a new TV contract that should provide longterm stability for the conference, with ESPN in an exclusive window until the end of October. The question now is whether the ACC looks to the Big East again in its expansion efforts, since an odd number of basketball schools is unlikely.

The Big East will have a new lineup next year, with West Virginia leaving this summer and Pitt and Syracuse in their final year. Temple joined the league in football this fall and will join in all sports next summer; Boise State and San Diego State will join the league as football-only members next year, and Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and SMU will join as all-sports members, with Navy set to join for football in 2015.

USF joined the Big East in 2005 as a result of the ACC raiding the league for three schools: Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech. Big East commissioner Mike Aresco is scheduled to be in Tampa on Thursday for USF's football game against Rutgers and should be able to address the continuing change to the league's lineup.

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